This invention relates to new and useful improvements in pig farrowing crates.
The standard pig farrowing crate used to hold a sow while she is nursing her young, comprises a relatively narrow enclosure constructed of bars to form a pen-like enclosure.
A problem with such conventional crates is that when the sow lies down for nursing, the narrowness of the crate causes difficulty in standing up again. Also, when she lies down, the movement can be fairly rapid so that there is a possibility that she will roll on top of the piglets thereby crushing same as they do not have time to get out of the way.
In order to remedy these problems a "comfort bar" is utilized. This comprises the lowermost horizontal bar on the side of the crate being curved outwardly from the vertical plane of the crate side so as to allow the sow room to move at the bottom of the crate when nursing. However this modification, while allowing the sow more movement, results in more danger to the young as she tends to lie down more rapidly and furthermore she then has sufficient room so that she may roll on top of the piglets while nursing.